TN CM announces official vehicle, ₹1 lakh allowance for MLAs to address public grievances

Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay of Tamil Nadu announced an official vehicle and a ₹1 lakh monthly allowance for legislators to address public grievances in their respective constituencies. This decision was met with enthusiasm by ruling TVK legislator K Sindhu, who broke into a song praising Vijay and thanking him for the gesture.

The government will provide an allowance of ₹75,000 per month to support administrative tasks, vehicle maintenance, fuel, and a driver, as well as ₹25,000 per month for a personal assistant to help manage constituency work. The primary goals are to reduce the economic burden on MLAs, improve transparency, and ensure government services reach the grassroots level without corruption.

The new directives will be formalized through appropriate amendments, according to Vijay, who made the announcement under Rule 110 in the Assembly. The Chief Minister also mentioned that these measures would enable legislators to travel across their constituencies to address public grievances and monitor government projects. The Speaker J C D Prabhakar and the MLAs were pleasantly surprised by the announcement, while the nervous first-time MLA from Gudiyatham constituency broke into an impromptu song, singing a few lines of the 1964 movie Padagotti.

The chief minister smiled at the musical expression, and the Speaker clarified that the chief minister's announcements applied to all 234 members of the House.